Cole Shuts Out Astros, Shuts Down the Debate

Who is the best pitcher in baseball? That's easy. It's Gerrit Cole.

You say it's Jacob deGrom? You're an idiot. deGrom could never do what Cole did last night.

The Yankee bullpen was already weakened by an injury to Zack Britton, and by the incomprehensible slump of Aroldis Chapman. It was further weakened by Jonathan Loaisiga having been transferred to the COVID list (apparently, he'd been exposed), and by Chad Green having pitched 2 innings the night before, making his entry into this game inadvisable.

So the Yankees were going to need Cole, himself in something of a slump, to go long. And they were going to need to score for him.

They did -- barely. They wasted a leadoff walk by Giancarlo Stanton and a 1-out single by Gio Urshela in the 2nd inning. Aaron Judge hit a home run off Zack Greinke in the top of the 3rd, and the few Yankee Fans in attendance, remembering how Jose Altuve, in the Astros' tainted World Championship year of 2017, was given the  American League's Most Valuable Player award despite Judge having the better stats (normally, the right decision), chanted, "MVP! MVP! MVP!"

But the Yankees wasted a 1-out Gleyber Torres double in the 4th, a leadoff walk by Kyle Higashioka in the 5th, a leadoff single by Luke Voit in the 6th, a leadoff single by DJ LeMahieu and a 1-out walk by Voit in the 8th, and a 2-out single by Brett Gardner in the 9th. So, if not for Judge's homer, Cole might have pitched one of the best games of the season, for naught.

Cole got through the 1st 3 innings without allowing a baserunner. He walked Altuve and Michael Brantley to start in the 4th, but got a double play to get out of it. Abraham Toro broke up the no-hitter with 1 out in the 5th, but Cole got out of it. Yuli Gurriel lead off the 7th with a single, but Cole got out of that, too. Boone sent him out for the 8th, and he got the Astros out 1-2-3. He had allowed only 4 baserunners: 2 hits and 2 walks, and was still throwing as high as 99 miles per hour.

David Cone's 147-pitch job in Game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series, caused by then-manager Buck Showalter being unwilling to bring in Mariano Rivera (to be fair, no one yet knew what he could do), so terribly scarred general manager Brian Cashman that he made pitch limits sacred.

Among the results: Taking out pitchers who are cruising, and blowing the games for them; over-reliance on lefty pitchers to pitch to 1 batter, and then it not working, most notable in the form of Boone Logan; and babying young pitchers, and ruining them, most notably Joba Chamberlain. (Remember "The Joba Rules"?)

So the idea that Cole would take the mound for the 9th inning after having thrown 112 pitches must have sent a chill down Cashman's spine.

But Boone's options were limited: Leave Cole in, bring in the unreliable Luis Cessa, or bring Aroldis Chapman back into what became a house of horrors for him in 2019. And whoever he sent out for the 9th, the 1st batter was going to be Altuve, who hit the Pennant-winning homer off Chapman, and then begged his teammates not to rip off his shirt and show the wire he used to cheat.

Boone chose to leave Cole in for the bottom of the 9th. And Altuve singled on his 1st pitch. Now, the tying run was on, and the winning run was at the plate. Boone left Cole in.

Brantley kept fouling off pitch after pitch, causing Cole to expend himself further. Finally, Cole got Brantley to fly to center. 1 out. Still, Boone left him in. He struck Gurriel out on a 99-MPH fastball. 2 out.

But 126 pitches. Boone came out to take Cole out. But when he got to the mound, according to Cole in the postgame press conference, there were a few "George Carlin words" exchanged -- whether in anger or in desperation, Cole did not elaborate -- and Boone walked back to the dugout, letting Cole face Yordan Alvarez.

He threw Alvarez 3 pitches. All 99 MPH. All over the plate. Alvarez let the 1st one go. He missed the 2nd. He missed the 3rd.

Ballgame over. 129 pitches, no runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, in a bandbox stadium, against an American League team known to be cheaters. Gerrit Cole pitched the best game of the year, and I write this knowing that there have been no-hitters this season, including by one of his teammates. Nobody else -- not even deGrom -- has done this.

Yankees 1, Astros 0. WP: Cole (9-4). No save, although, if there was ever a game where a pitcher should be credited with both a win and a save, this is it. LP: Greinke (8-3).

The series, and the official 1st half of the regular season, concludes this afternoon. Jameson Taillon starts against Framber Valdez. It doesn't sound like a good setup for the Yankees, but then, Taillon was very good in his last start. And whatever happens in this game, the Yankees have taken at least 2 out of 3 in Houston, which should, at least, send the Astros the message that we're not fooling around with them anymore.

If only the Yankees could send similar messages to the Boston Red Sox (whom they trail in the AL Eastern Division by 8 games, 7 in the loss column) and the Tampa Bay Rays (whom they also trail). But all you can do is beat the team in front of you.

The Yankees will have to do a lot more of that in the 2nd half to make the Playoffs, and bring their fans the title they have waited 12 years for.